Tuesday, September 6
Time to move along, except we haven't yet done the Loop Tour on the El (elevated railway). So after breakfast at the Lockwood Restaurant (very elegant) and packing our bags, we figure one quick trip shouldn't take too long, So, half a block to the steps up, several minutes to figure out the ticket machines, get our tickets, pick the pink route (54th & Clermont - don't want to end up at the airport), board the next train and settle in. Still magnificent scenery and architecture. At one point a bunch of students board and exit a few stops later, we continue on. Luckily we strike up a conversation with a younger man (in his 50's) and he clues us in that at the end of the line there's a delay while they clean the cars, etc. So we get off with him and he gets us on the next car back. We get back to the hotel and check out with 10 minutes to spare. Whew!
The rental car is delivered to the hotel and we enjoy the conversation with the driver. He'd been in San Diego for training with the Marines and had ended up with Embassy duty in London and Prague. Now he works for Enterprise.
We left Chicago via Michigan Avenue for quite a ways before entering the freeway. It's certainly not the architecture of Southern California. Old housing here is really old. So on to farmland.
Looks like a great year for the corn and soybean farmers. We saw just the beginnings of the corn harvesting. We have also visited two libraries and are impressed with the amount of space available for books and activities. Columbia City's library (used their wireless service to book a motel) also has two auditoriums and four meeting rooms downstairs overlooking a small lake with this evening's offerings a ladies tai chi class and a men's barbershop quartet rehearsal.
Wednesday, September 7
We made it to East Liverpool, Ohio, named by a bunch of folks who were homesick for their home town (we surmise). It is next to the Ohio River and was a big center for earthenware pottery beginning in 1840. Cute tight small town with four- and five-story buildings, now most upper stories are vacant. Their antique mall is huge and we only had 45 minutes to browse four floors. Lots of Fiesta Ware and other pottery choices. Had dinner at Zappa's – the Wednesday special was chicken wings for 35 cents each. We had one batch of sesame ginger and another of Bleu Buffalo. Pretty good. We plan to visit the Ceramic museum in A.M.
Thursday, September 8
The Ceramic Museum of course took longer than expected (http://www.themuseumofceramics.org/index.html) so we had to scurry along to the Turnpike to get across the state by 5:00 p.m. We actually arrived in York and our hotel by 4:00. it looks like an old, old town.
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